The Great Divide: Prospects for an Integral
Culture

All the ingredients are in place for a new "integral"
culture, according to researcher Paul Ray. Some 44 million in the US
alone are people Paul Ray has identified as "Cultural Creatives,"
through his public opinion research. This article is adapted from his
report to the Fetzer Institute and the Institute of Noetic Sciences,
and from an article on the report that appeared in the Noetic Sciences
Review.

Looking at the decline in incomes for North Americans, or at the
perilous state of the environment around the planet, many of us quite
reasonably feel that this time in our history is one of unparalleled
danger. It is not hard to see how a series of disasters superimposed on
each other could lead to a decline in civilization.

But let's consider an alternative point of view that runs against
everything we read in the daily papers. The alternative is this: The
opportunities before us are just as real as the dangers. Our future is
not an inevitable slide into poverty and despair, nor can we celebrate
our inevitable progress into a golden future.

At the threshold of a "Great Divide" in history such as this, the worst
upset may be to know that the world diverges sharply from everything
you have known, and has been, into the unknown. Changes from one kind
of civilization to another do not happen often in history: the
invention of agriculture, the rise and fall of conquest states and
empires, the coming of industrialism and urbanism. An earlier
generation may have been justified in discounting any further such
radical changes. We cannot.

In the next two decades our world will either be dramatically better or
dramatically worse. The one thing that cannot happen is "more of the
same." Most trends of the past are simply not sustainable. The era of
obvious steps to progress is gone, and we face the Great Divide. It
really could go either way: Our future is not foreordained.

We are at a tipping point in civilization. This means we have to be
ready to choose a good path. The quality of our "image of the future,"
and the quality of our creative efforts based on it, will determine
which way our future develops over the next generation or two. All that
is certain is that the stakes have been raised.

Three Worldviews

On a centuries-long time scale, we have seen the rise of modern
cultural forms; and also the decline of the Modernist paradigm. The
central thesis of my research is that we are seeing the emergence of a
new cultural form, Integral Culture – a new, constructive synthesis of
Modernism and its antithesis, Traditionalism – a synthesis which moves
beyond both while not rejecting either. A defining characteristic of
Integral Culture is that in synthesizing these other two value systems
it simultaneously legitimizes the Western world's deepest, common past
and aims toward a transformative future.

Compared to the rest of society, the bearers of Integral Culture have
values that are more idealistic and spiritual, have more concern for
relationships and psychological development, are more environmentally
concerned, and are more open to creating a positive future. According
to my research, this group comprises about 24 percent of the adults in
the US, or about 44 million people. If indeed an Integral Culture is
emerging, we are experiencing a very unusual time in history – for
change in the dominant cultural pattern happens only once or twice a
millennium.

My research shows that today there are three different worldviews,
whereas just a generation ago social researchers could find only two:
Traditional and Modern. Because of the perceptual lag that is common in
our public discourse, we still talk publicly as if there were only
these two.

The dominant imagery of each current worldview in this survey was
formed in a fairly recent historical period in the US. However, each of
these three worldviews reflects a much older stream of meanings and
cultural concerns.

• The roots of today's Traditional stream can be traced to Medieval
Europe, through traditional Catholics and Protestants reacting to the
rise of secular Modernism after the Enlightenment, up to the
anti-democratic Right that persists today. In more recent times in the
US, Traditionalism can be traced also to rural and nativist (racist,
anti-foreign) movements from which 19th century fundamentalism arose in
reaction to Modernism in its North American form. Today's Heartlanders
– those who carry forth the Traditionalists views – believe in a
mythical image of a return to small town, religious America,
corresponding to the period 1890 to 1930.

• The beginning of Modernism dates from around 500 years ago in Europe
at the end of the Renaissance, and continued to spread beyond Europe to
its colonies throughout the period. While Modernism may in part be seen
as an overthrow of authoritarian political and religious controls, it
has important roots in the urban merchant classes and in other creators
of the modern economy, in the rise of the modern state and armies, and
in the rise of scientists, technologists, and intellectuals.

• The roots of today's Transmodernism appear to be in part in the
esoteric spiritual movements that grew out of the Renaissance and
continue today in the rise of new religions, and also in the
transcendental movement of the early to mid-19th century. They are also
found worldwide in the writings of various intellectuals of the
mid-20th century, in the New Age movement, in the humanistic psychology
and transpersonal psychology movements, in the ecology movement, and in
the women's movement, which all date from the 1960s on. This worldview
is "leading edge and subject to change," and incorporates the personal
into the social and political:

The members of this new subculture – whom I call Cultural Creatives –
offer hope that we are seeing the emergence of an "Integral Culture" as
a successor to Modernism.

What the Survey Shows

Today, bearers of Traditionalism, the Heartlanders, are 29 percent of
the population, or 56 million adults. Bearers of Modernism are 47
percent of the population, or 88 million adults. And Cultural Creatives
comprise 24 percent of the adult population, or 44 million.

The Modernists represent the current cultural mainstream: their current
malaise about "what this modern world has come to" is what the media
emphasize, since that is where the media themselves are centered. At 47
percent of the population, they represent 88 million adults, with more
men than women. With this many people, they include a wide range of
incomes from lower-middle class to rich. They include not only
conventional factory and office workers, but the technological
creatives of American culture, such as engineers and doctors, as well
as business people. Among them are various subgroups, some with a
strong leanings toward spiritual and personal growth concerns, others –
such as the Alienated Modernists – feel disheartened by modern culture
as their own prospects for the future slide.

The Heartlanders are a subculture of traditional and conservative
values and beliefs. Heartlanders are 29.6 percent of the adult
population, or 55.6 million persons. On average, their incomes and
educations tend to be lower, and they tend to be older, than the other
two subcultures.

We have seen in focus groups that they have difficulty in handling
complexity and the modern world, combined with a reactivity against
change. The ones who die are not being replaced by nearly as many
younger Heartlanders, so it is a population in slow decline over time.
The intense recruitment and publicity by the religious right may well
represent a sunset phenomenon, a desperate attempt to recoup past
losses.

This subculture gains a sense of strength and coherence in the face of
a modern world it doesn't like or understand by rejecting the "other"
and using the political mobilization of traditionalism and xenophobia.
It is a culture of memory: more of them remember a vanished America,
and more adhere to remembered cultural forms.

A New Subculture

Cultural Creatives (CCs) are called that because they are coming up
with most new ideas in US culture, operating on the leading edge of
cultural change. They tend to be middle to upper-middle class. A few
more CCs are on the West Coast than elsewhere, but they are in all
regions of the country. The overall male-female ratio is 40:60, or 50
percent more women than men.

CCs have two wings: Core Cultural Creatives and Green Cultural
Creatives. Core CCs (10.6 percent, or 20 million) have both
person-centered and green values: seriously concerned with psychology,
spiritual life, self-actualization, self-expression; like the foreign
and exotic (are xenophiles); enjoy mastering new ideas; are socially
concerned; advocate women's issues; and are strong advocates of
ecological sustainability. They tend to be leading-edge thinkers and
creators. They tend to be upper-middle class, and their male-female
ratio is 33:67, twice as many women as men.

Green CCs (13 percent, or 24 million) have values centered on the
environment and social concerns from a secular view, with average
interest in spirituality, psychology, or person-centered values. They
appear to take their cues from the Core CCs and tend to be middle class.

The CCs subculture represents the appearance of new values and
worldviews that were rare before World War II and were scarcely
noticeable even a generation ago. Faced with those other two cultural
forms, the CCs' response is also a withdrawal of belief in the old
forms. But unlike the alienated Moderns, the CCs are well on their way
to creating something new.

The CCs are synthesizing a new set of concepts for viewing the world:
an ecological and spiritual worldview; a whole new literature of social
concerns; a new problematique for the planet in place of the old set of
problems that Modernism set out to solve; a new set of psychological
development techniques; a return in spiritual practices and
understandings to the perennial psychology and philosophy; and an
elevation of the feminine to a new place in recent human history. In
short, it is a good beginning for a new cultural era.

Like all cultures, an emerging new culture (whether Integral Culture or
some other major social force) is a response to the problems of the
day. All cultures exist to solve the problems that people perceive.
Modernism did solve some of the problems it confronted, but it is no
longer an appropriate response to the nature and complexity of the
problematique facing today's society. Much of the old problematique
persists, and, in fact, many of the "solutions" of Modernism have
contributed to the new problematique.

Cultural Creatives are a very large pool of people – 44 million –
bigger than any comparable group seen at the birth of any previous
societal renaissance. The empirical data of my survey shows that the
appearance of the Cultural Creatives since the 1970s heralds what may
well be the birth of the new and distinctive social force that I am
calling Integral Culture. But, to emphasize a point made earlier, the
realization of Integral Culture is by no means foreordained.

An Image of the Future

Our greatest error could be to take seriously the pessimistic temper of
our times, and to give in to the fear and cynicism that pervade the
media.

There is an alternative point of view. As sociologist Fred Polak showed
in his study of 1,500 years of European history, The Image of the
Future, if a whole culture holds a very pessimistic image of the
future, that image will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The actual
predictions about decline don't have to be right or to come true: The
pathological behaviors released may be quite sufficient to bring about
decline. It's a disease of belief. And the contrary is also true. When
a culture holds positive images of the future, they may not be right,
but investment in new opportunities and willingness to build a good
society are sufficient to make a decent way of life, if not the best of
all worlds.

Both Heartlanders and Cultural Creatives criticize Modernists for their
cynicism and lack of altruism. It is worth remembering that altruism is
a good support for group solidarity, and that cynicism and alienation
usually reflects group breakdowns. CCs have the most altruism (58
percent) and least cynical and alienated values (19 percent); 35
percent are optimistic – despite being terribly worried about the
condition of the planet – as compared to 24 percent of each of the
other two subcultures. Heartlanders follow (altruism at 55 percent and
cynical/alienated at 29 percent), with Modernists quite cynical and
alienated (48 percent), and weak on altruism (32 percent).

This supports my argument that Modernists are losing confidence in
their world view. If forming a positive image of the future is up to
them, we could be in trouble. If it is up to the Cultural Creatives,
something will be invented, for it takes optimism and idealism to be
willing to invent an image of a positive future in dark times.

Another way of looking at the Cultural Creatives is to ask if they want
to be activists in bringing about a new way of life. Some 40 percent
are positive on the activism scale, compared to 28 percent of
Heartlanders and 25 percent of Modernists. This suggests that a social
movement of over 15 million persons could be formed given the right
appeal and means of mobilization.

The political data suggests that this would better be seen as a
non-political movement. There is among the CCs no mutual recognition,
no sense of community, nor solidarity. The CCs have acted rather like
an audience: all facing in the same direction, rather than toward one
another. In focus groups over the years, I found that many Cultural
Creatives believe that few people share their values. They believe that
they are pretty much alone in the world and have yet to become
conscious of themselves as a subculture. They have been reading the
same things and going through parallel life experiences, and coming to
similar conclusions about what is most important in life. But their
stance has been rather like an audience – spectators to the planetary
drama who are leaning back in their seats, not fully engaged in
creating, nor in acting in the drama.

Now CCs need to turn and face one another, to recognize who they are,
to lean forward in mutual engagement and excitement. Having done that,
hope and a sense of new possibility will arise, and they can be
energized to take up the torch and build community, not only as a
community of values and belief, but as a large and potentially powerful
movement that comes at the most opportune historical moment.

The potential for an Integral Culture is very real. The requisite
population base (of Cultural Creatives) is in place; global
communications and transportation systems are in place and developing
rapidly; advances in the "new sciences" of quantum physics, holistic
biology, and complexity theory are already dismantling the old
Modernist paradigm; in addition, a host of new developments in
humanistic and transpersonal psychology, eco-sciences, and feminism, as
well as a burgeoning psycho-spiritual consciousness revolution, are all
contributing to a Transmodern culture and a new kind of world. The
transformation is happening right in front of our eyes, right now in
the last decade of the 20th century. In short, all the ingredients
required to make a truly Integral Culture are already with us.

This study is based on a survey mailed to a representative national
sample of the US population by National Family Opinion in late 1994,
using their panel of people who had agreed to be available. Roughly
1,500 respondents were sampled. Another 600 questionnaires were sent to
a pre-screened national sample of Cultural Creatives.

No Paywall. No Ads. Just Readers Like You.You can help fund powerful stories to light the way forward.Donate Now.